Not only were there LWS (Lewis) signs all over Oxford this week, there were also signs for The Oxford Literary Festival which was in town for the past nine days. Today was the last day. What a treat for book lovers!
To name just a few of the hundreds of author and thinkers who came to Oxford for the festival this year: 2013 Man Booker winner Eleanor Catton; thriller writer Robert Harris; creator of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Alexander McCall-Smith; philosopher A C Grayling: former minister Jonathan Aitken, Born Free actress Virginia McKenna; children and young adult writers Lauren Child, Robert Muchamore and Sophie McKenzie; Margaret Atwood; Jeremy Paxman; Joanne Harris; Orhan Pamuk; Eleanor Catton; and this year's Booker prize winner Ian McEwan.
This was the 18th year of the festival which has grown to over 200 events at the various colleges over the past two weeks covering all aspects of literature and publishing.
The festival erected a a marquee next to the Sheldonian Theatre that was sponsored by Blackwell’s Bookshop, Oxford's beloved bookstore.
Here you could hear author's speak about their latest work in soap box talks throughout the day.
There was a festival bookshop, a cafe and the festival box office in the marquee. In short, a book lover's paradise.
My favorite talk was given by Irving Finkel, the Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures in the Department of Middle East in the British Museum
I have never been more charmed and riveted by a speaker (or laughed harder during a serious lecture) than I was by Dr. Finkel.
Finkel told the story of how he came across the tablet in 1985, when a man called Douglas Simmonds walked into the British Museum, with a bag that contained various artifact collected from a great uncle who served in Iraq during WWI. Finkel instantly recognized the significance of one of the tablets, but only managed to convince Simmonds to leave it with him in 2009. What Dr. Finkel discovered was that on this tablet, dating from 1750 BC, were instructions from God to a great man to build a boat and pack in two animals of every kind. It even gave precise measurements of the vessel that would save its occupants from the flood.
Finkel has written a book about what is known about the ark story written 1,000 years before the Bible. According to the instructions on this tablet, this “ark” was circular, like a coracle boat, taking up half a football pitch and enclosed in a length of rope that would reach from London to Edinburgh. “It didn’t have to go in any direction, it just had to float and survive the flood.”
This is a replica of the Simmonds Tablet. Finkel said the piece took “a long time” to decode. “I read the bulk on the front more or less OK,” but he struggled with chipped sections.
This is a replica the the Mesopotamian map of the world (500-700BC). There are writings on this map that concur with information on the Simmonds tablet, according to Dr. Finkel. I wish I could convey how well he told this amazing story with such warmth, wit and humor.
Finkel, who describes himself as a “Jewish atheist”, says he does not believe the Ark existed, despite remains apparently being found at Mount Ararat in Turkey. He believes that the Judeans, taken to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar II, incorporated Babylonian mythology into the Torah, but gave the stories a new, moral dimension. In his words: “Noah is the classic Hebrew hero. Just like Doctor Who saves the world, Noah did, too. The Hebrews gave it a different slant. In the Babylonian version of the story, the people were too noisy. In our version, there was sin in the world.”
The Oxford Literary Festival is another wonderful gem in Oxford. I only wish I could have gone to more events. I am already looking forward to next year's festival.
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